CNMI figures in sex guide on the Internet

A sex guide on the Internet has cited the widespread availability of prostitutes on Saipan, giving site visitors tips on how prostitution on the island operates, the rates, and where the girls can be found. The site also warned prospective customers of what clubs to avoid and other do’s and don’ts.

The worldsexguide.org said that Garapan on Beach Road is where most of the clubs are. However, the site added, since most of Saipan’s tourists are Japanese and Korean, the clubs in Garapan are spoiled and are the most expensive on island.

“Nevertheless, there’s more action crowded into one square mile—clubs right next to each other and upstairs from one other—than in Las Vegas. You could club hop for two weeks straight and not hit them all,” the website said.

The site’s author claims to have spent two years as a resident on Saipan.

Also, the report said that in some hotel lobbies and bars there are Korean or Chinese pimps who solicit customers for the girls.

A March 2002 report released by the Protection Project disclosed that CNMI has become a center of international human trafficking operations involving Chinese and Japanese organized crime, debt-bondage, and sexual slavery.

According to the report, the exploitation of women on the islands has escalated in recent years to include the trafficking of Russian and Chinese women for prostitution in a burgeoning sex tourism industry.

Also, the report stated that evidence has been found of minors being trafficked from the Philippines and China into the CNMI for sexual purposes, including trafficking for the purposes of forced prostitution.

The Protection Project is a legal human rights research institute based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.

The federal Criminal Code prohibits prostitution, promoting prostitution, and permitting prostitution, as well as sexually exploiting a person or employing anyone for the purpose of offering or providing sexual services for pay. The act of prostitution itself is considered a crime in cases where a person engages in, or agrees or offers to engage in, sexual conduct with another person for a fee.

The punishment for engaging in prostitution or permitting prostitution is 90 days imprisonment, a fine, or both. The punishment for promoting prostitution is imprisonment for not more than 5 years, a fine, or both. If a person advances or profits from prostitution by threat or force against another person, the punishment is increased to imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine, or both.